Visitor Arrivals Down Under Continue To Grow

12 December 2016

Australia welcomed 694,300 international visitors in October, up 11% on the same month the previous year, taking the total number for the year ending October 2016 to a record 8.14 million.

The figures, released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, mark the 10th consecutive month of double digit year-on-year growth in visitor arrivals and an 11.5% annual increase on the previous months.

“It’s fantastic to see the number of international visitors from all of the markets Tourism Australia targets grow over the past year with a particularly strong performance from key Asian markets and the US,” said Tourism Australia Managing Director John O’Sullivan.

“The current level of aviation activity gives you some indication of how the airlines see future demand. Only this weekend, Qantas announced direct flights linking London to Perth. And tomorrow will see China Southern’s inaugural service from Guangzhou to Adelaide, the state’s first ever direct flights from China,” he said.

Arrivals from China, Japan and South Korea grew by more than one fifth for the 12 months to October 2016, up 20 per cent, 21 per cent and 28 per cent respectively over the period.

Double digit growth in visitor numbers was also recorded from the US (17.6%), Malaysia (16.3%) and Singapore (15.7%) for the year.

New Zealand remains Australia’s largest market by visitor arrivals, up 3.1 per cent in the 12 months to October 2016.

Growth in visitor numbers to Australia was driven by the leisure segment (+14.7%), in particular by holiday arrivals (+25.1%) across the 12 months.

Recent data from the International Visitor Survey published by Tourism Research Australia shows the extent to which international visitor spending in Australia also continues to grow.